Between Iraq and a hard place...

Bush leaning toward sending 20,000 additional U.S. troops to Iraq
The American public clearly supports a timetable for withdrawal, starting right away. That has the advantage of at least getting our troops out of harm's way, but it would almost inevitably leave behind a country in chaos.

And yet the solution that President Bush seems to be gravitating towards -- sending more troops -- may be the worst of all worlds. It's the last gasp of a strategy that's been tried before and failed, at great human cost.
************************************************************

Military Budget About Half a Trillion and the Army is Broke
*According to Maj. Gen Stephen Speakes, the Army was sent to war in Iraq $56 billion short of essential equipment.

*Army officials told the White House that it needs at least an additional $24 billion, not in the 2007 budget, just to pay its current bills.

*Cash shortfalls have forced the Army to lay off janitorial staff, close base swimming pools, and even stop mowing lawns on Army bases.

*But cuts have also hit soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Army officials had to cut $3 billion for replacement of weapons in heavy use in Iraq, such as armored Humvees, two-way radios, remote control surveillance aircraft and trucks.

*National Guard units now lack 40% of their critical readiness gear because it's been sent to Iraq, and the Army lacks the funds to replace it.
************************************************************

Powell deeply skeptical about increasing troop levels
"There really are no additional troops. A troop increase cannot be sustained. The thousands of additional U.S. soldiers sent into Baghdad since the summer had been unable to stabilize the city and more probably could not tip the balance, Powell. The deployment of further troops would, moreover, impose long-term costs on a badly stretched military.
************************************************************

From The Military Times:Army Chief Calls for Troop Increase
The Army's top general warned Thursday that his force "will break" without thousands more active duty troops and greater use of the reserves.

There are competing schools of thought inside the military and the administration on whether a short-term increase in U.S. troop strength in Iraq - possibly in the range of 20,000 - would be enough to quell the sectarian warfare in Baghdad.

Some generals believe it would be too little, too late, in a war that already has claimed more than 2,900 U.S. lives.
***********************************************************

From The Military Times: Reserves, National Guard Feel Strain
Many Guard units are struggling with chronic equipment shortages and funding problems that threaten their ability to respond to disaster and other emergencies in their home states. Thousands of reservists are serving in patchwork units cobbled together in piecemeal fashion from other units, often with little or no sense of cohesion.

"I think you're seeing the leading edge indicators of strain and fraying the edges," said Arnold L. Punaro, a retired Marine Corps general

Repeated missions have taken a toll, prompting the nation's governors to complain to Punaro's commission about equipment shortages, inadequate training and insufficient federal funding. Units returning from combat were forced to leave much of their equipment with active-duty forces or replacements, leaving them ill equipped to confront disasters at home.
**********************************************************

From The Military Times: The Coming Crisis in Naval Aviation
Five years of combat have taken an awful toll on the equipment of U.S. naval forces. Marine Corps vehicles and battle tanks are being ground to dust, new types of weapons and small craft are needed, and equipment for the Navy Seabees must be replaced quickly.

The cost of re-equipping, or “resetting,” the Marine Corps is about $12 billion, some of which is being provided in the annual supplemental appropriations for the war in Iraq.

The Navy will require at least $7 billion.

But that is only part of the story. Looming behind the immediate needs of the naval forces is a coming crisis in aircraft procurement.

Left untended, the aging fleet combined with the continued stress of current operations, inevitably will mean diminished performance despite the services’ innovative efforts to keep the aircraft flying. Additional limits on weight, range and maneuver are a virtual certainty, and that could jeopardize readiness and ultimately affect the services’ ability to conduct future operations.
************************************************************

And finally: U.S. standing sinks in Mideast
Attitudes about the United States have deteriorated sharply in the Middle East in the past two years, a survey of five countries in the region shows.

Survey respondents tend to distinguish between U.S. policy and the American people, but that distinction appears to have eroded in the past four years.

James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute: "Our policy [In Iraq] drags everything. The negatives have become very pronounced."



Sleep tight, babies. The Decider has everything under control...

(top two links via Alex)